DAR officers had little sympathy for Catt and her letter. They maintained
that communism was a dangerous presence in America and it was their duty to
combat its influences. President General Grace Brosseau responded that combating
subversive forces was only one aspect of "national defense." The term had
a broad meaning for the Daughters. They employed it to justify everything
from increased military expenditures to proper education for immigrants, to
scrutiny of school textbooks to insure the correct development of loyal young
citizens. The very fact that Catt felt threatened by the DAR proved to Brosseau
that the organization was doing its job. She also noted President Coolidge's
approval of the DAR and the approval of Secretary of State Kellogg, whose
Kellogg-Briand Pact sought to end war as a means of international problem
solving,

National Defense
Work of D.A.R. UpheldThe President
General replies to
MRS. CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT

In the July issue of The Woman Citizen, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt
assails the Daughters of the American Revolution for their activities along
certain lines. The article is quite some tirade, and as she also released
it to the Associated Press it has, of course, been given publicity throughout
the country.

For the moment, and just as we are going to press, all that we, as an organization,
have to say is that the Daughters of the American Revolution stand for National
Defense in all its various phases, and that means in part to fight communistic
propaganda and subversive influences, no matter from what sources they emanate.

Mrs. Catt is either sadly misinformed or willfully unobserving if she fails
to recognize the evidences of communism in America. Further, she has not
impressed us in the slightest degree, nor will she deter us in our efforts
along the lines we have chosen. We have the approval of too many leaders
of thought in the United States, including President Coolidge and Secretary
Kellogg.

If the psychologists find us an "interesting case," as Mrs. Catt states,
more power to them. We feel, with pardonable pride, that we are a case of
well-directed energy, as evidenced by the fact that she takes occasion to
reprimand us. If our work did not speak very loudly for itself, she would
never take the trouble to try to counteract our influence. That is the strongest
evidence of the fact that we are far from "atrophied."

Furthermore, the pamphlet to which she refers does not mention the names
of Jane Addams, Florence Kelly, or Mrs. Catt. If one follows the newspapers
from day to day one can obtain very accurate information regarding the activities
of the organizations mentioned therein, and also of the individuals to whom
Mrs. Catt alludes.